The homestead of this lady with its appurtenances is considered one of the best-regulated estates in Ward's Grove Township. Of this Mrs. Tyrrell has had the management since the death of her husband, Arthur Tyrrell, June 13, 1872. She is a lady widely and favorably known throughout this part of the county, and possesses most excellent qualities of character. Cultivated, intelligent, and well-informed, she is in addition to this possessed of great kindness of heart and sympathy for the unfortunate everywhere. Her life has been one of a large experience, during which she has encountered its various duties with that braver and fidelity seldom seen. In the improvement of the farm, during the early days when help was scarce or other circumstances necessitated it, she has herself gone into the fields and done a man's labor. This faculty of adapting one's self to circumstances is a gift with which comparative^- few are endowed, and which is of inestimable value. Mrs. Tyrrell is a lady of fine tastes, as evinced in her surroundings, a reader of books, and keeps herself well informed in regard to current events". She is entirely devoted to the welfare of her children, over who education she has watched with true maternal solicitude, and given them the home training which has made of them good and worthy citizens.

The subject of this memoir is of New England ancestry, and the daughter of Jonas R. and Prudence H. (Winn) Patridge, both natives of Massachusetts; the father born in Barre, Nov. 1, 1798 and the mother in Worcester, April 20, 1806. The paternal grandfather, John Patridge, owned an operated a good farm in the Bay State, and died there June 3, 1836, at the age of sixty-eight year. On the mother's side of the house Grandfather John Winn, was a native of Massachusetts, and of English descent. He was well-to-do, and spent his entire life in his native State.

Jonas R. Patridge was the eldest of ten children, and in early manhood learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed ten years, finally operating as a builder and contractor. The mother was the third in a family of eight children. Her brothers were engaged in mercantile business. The parents of Mrs. Tyrrell were married in Massachusetts, where they lived until 1831, then removed first to Rochester, N. Y., and thence to Allegheny. From the Empire State, in 1833, they changed their residence to Geauga County, Ohio, where the father purchased land, put up a residence, and still pursued his trade of carpenter. Not yet satisfied with his surroundings, however, he, in June, 3 838, set out for what was then the farther West, and, coming to this county, took up a claim in Stockton Township. Upon this he effected considerable improvement, but still continued his work as a carpenter. He invested his surplus capital in additional land, and finally became the owner of 200 acres, which he brought to a good state of cultivation, erecting thereon a substantial set of buildings. He departed from the scenes of his earthly labors Oct. 20, 1864. He had been a Justice of the Peace, and, politically, was an uncompromising Democrat. In religious matters he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother survived her husband a little over eight years, and died at the old homestead Aug. 14, 1872.

Five children completed the household circle of Jonas and Prudence Patridge: Mary S. resides in Ward's Grove Township; Eliza J., our subject, was the second born; Julia A. is deceased; John W. is in Louisiana; Charlotte S. is a resident of Iowa. Mrs. Tyrrell was born in Barre, Mass., June 7, 1831, and was a child of two years when her parents removed to Ohio, which she left when a child of nine, coming to this county. They made the journey by water to Chicago, and from that point by ox-team to Stockton Township, being two weeks on the road. The first lessons of Mrs. Tyrrell were conducted in a log school-house, the first of its kind in this part of the county. She received excellent home training, and was reared to womanhood under the parental roof. On the 8th of January, 1846, when a little past fifteen years of age, she was united in marriage with Mr. Arthur Tyrrell, sou of Samuel and Annie (Crane) Tyrrell, natives of Vermont. Mr. Tyrrell was at that time employed on a farm. Samuel Tyrrell enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812; but, not being of the size required, was not permitted to serve. He came to this county in 1843, and spent his last days with his sons, dying"in Ward's Grove Township. The mother survived her husband many 3*ears, dying in 1877, when over eighty years of age. Their family consisted of eleven children, namely: Samuel, a resident of Stockton; Annie, deceased; Nathan, living at Moline, 111.; Arthur and Charles, deceased; Miles, a resident of Morseville; Mary, living in Jefferson, Iowa; Abigail, a resident of Stockton, this county; Jane and Elizabeth, deceased; and Francis, of Stockton. Nathan served as a Union soldier during the late Civil War.

Arthur Tyrrell was born in Hancock, N. IT., Sept. 29, 1815, and remained there until a young man of twenty years, receiving good school advantages. In 1835 he set out for the Great West, and spent the winter following in Aurora, IL. In October, 1836, he came to this county, and took up land in Ward's Grove Township, which land is now included in the Tyrrell homestead. He built a log house, commenced the improvement of his property, and spent his time there until 1849. He then joined the caravan crossing the plains to California, traveling by ox-team over the North Platte route, stopping three weeks in Salt Lake City. While going through South Pass they lost their bearings, suffered almost incredible hardships, and nearly starved to death. Upon his arrival a Rollings Ranche Mr. Tyrrell could scarcely walk As soon as he was able he went to Sacramento arriving there just one year after he left home. Hi entered the mines, searching for gold; but on account of ill-health returned home in June, 1854 via the Isthmus and New York City.

Mr. Tyrrell now resumed farming in Stockton Township, where he continued to reside six years, removing, in 1859, to the present homestead, which he had already entered. He continued there until his death, making improvements and bringing the soil to a good state of cultivation. The farm embraces 176 acres of land, and since the death of her husband Mrs. Tyrrell has carried out his plans to the best of her ability, effecting many of the improvements noticeable today. She put up the present residence in 1878, and has a good barn and other out-buildings, with wind-mill, water-tanks, excellent farm-machinery and live-stock. A never-failing spring furnishes abundant water, and the farm is embellished with forest and fruit trees, giving to the whole the air of plenty and comfort which is the chief charm of country life. In addition to the home farm Mrs. Tyrrell also operates 150 acres adjoining. She keeps about nine head of good horses, four of which are utilized in the farm work. The railroad cuts off a little over seven acres of land on the southern part of the farm.

To Mr. and Mrs. Tyrrell there were born eight children, the record of whom is as follows: Omar A. married Miss Emma Blair, and is farming in Greene County, Iowa; they have three children— Lura, William, and Edna; Franklin married Miss Emilia Burns, of Ellsworth Count}', Kan.; they have three children—Cora, Luella. and Edith; they are living on a farm in Kansas. Cassius married Miss Laura Lyon, and is the father of one child, Glenn; he operates 160 acres of land in Ward's Grove Town- ship. Abbie is the wife of Frank Justus, and is carrying on farming and stock-raising in Stockton Township; they have two children—Ray and Fred. Charlotte (Mrs. John Lyon) lives in Freeport, and is the mother of two children—Allen and Pearl; Mr. Lyon is an engineer. Miles married Miss Lucy Blair, and is farming in Nebraska; they have two children—Lloyd and Cora. Dudley is at home with his parents; and Mary is attending the high school at Freeport.

Mr. Tyrrell, politically, affiliated with the Democratic party. He served on the Grand and Petit Juries, and had been the incumbent of most all the local offices—serving as Assessor, Collector, Constable, Commissioner of Highways—and was a member of the School Board. Socially, he belonged to the A. F. & A. M., at Plum River.

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889)